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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26373598">Hero Worship.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TayBartlett9000/pseuds/TayBartlett9000'>TayBartlett9000</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All Creatures Great and Small (TV), All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambition, Brothers, Exams, Family, Gen, Siblings, Vet, Yorkshire, young Tristan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:40:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,935</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26373598</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TayBartlett9000/pseuds/TayBartlett9000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tristan has to decide what he wants to do with the rest of his life and  what type of career he wants to persue. He knows exactly what he wants to be. He wants to be a vet like his  older brother. Tristan can only hope that Siegfried   agrees with his chosen career path.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hero Worship.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tristan rubbed at his stinging eyes and bent once again over  his biology book. It was  growing dark outside and yet he knew that he had to keep going.  He had to pass his exam. Siegfried would be most unhappy if he were to fail this exam.  Siegfried had passed every test and  exam thrown at him, a thing that he had delighted in telling his brother at every avial available opportunity.  Tristan  knew that he had to do the same thing. He had an awful lot to live up to. He was determined to live up to it.</p><p>Tristan glanced out of the window at the rain streaked heavens. Siegfried had been out on an important  call for hours now. A  farmer needed  his brother’s assistance in a calving. Tristan had wanted to come but as usual, Siegfried had denied him the chance. Tristan had tried to argue but the expression on his brother’s face had stayed his protestations. As Siegfried had said, a  calving  was not a situation that an inexperienced child should be involved in. Tristan sighed. He wondered when would be an appropriate time for his brother to allow him to assist him in his  Veterinary  practices. Never, most likely. </p><p>He  looked back down at his book, frowning as the words began to lose their meaning. He was tired. But he had to keep going. He had to pass the exam. If he did not, then  the career he wanted more than anything else would become impossible for him. He had to pass.</p><p>The sky was growing darker. Siegfried still had not yet returned home. Tristan found his mind wandering to the farm that his brother had driven to hours before. He could see it now, Siegfried and the farmer standing over the cow in one of the old barns, a calf lying at the big animal’s side. Tristan smiled. One day, he would be in a barn like that, kneeling on the  floor and doing what he knew he was born to do. Ever since he was able to process thought, Tristan had  yearned to follow in the footsteps of his brother, an  well  respected vet  within the community. Animals were Tristan’s great passion in life and he knew that once  his school biology exam was safely in the bag as it were, he would be one step closer to fulfilling that dream. And then, Siegfried would have no choice but to let Tristan go with him  to his various appointments.</p><p> He hadn’t told Siegfried yet of his ambitions to become a vet. Tristan wondered what his brother would say once he revealed the truth of his dream to him. Siegfried had been badgering him often of late to find a career and stick to it. ‘The time has come, my boy,’ he had said on more than one occasion, ‘you have to start thinking about what you want to do with your life. I won’t have a brother of mine wasting it away on meaningless activities.’ Tristan knew that Siegfried was right. Siegfried had after all, always known what he wanted to do with his life. He wished for Tristan to do the same. </p><p>Somewhere in the distance, a door slammed with a force almost hard enough to shake the very foundations of the house. Tristan looked up. Siegfried was home at last. He rose from his chair, stretching and yawning widely. Siegfried would want a brew. Tristan would make it and ask him about the calving. Siegfried didn’t  usually tolerate too many of his little brother’s insistant and  incessant questions but  if  Tristan brought him a cup of tea, maybe Siegfried would be more accomidating. It was worth a try.</p><p>Tristan hurried from his bedroom and made his way directly for the living room. Siegfried had already  taken  up a comfortable position in one of  the armchairs. He looked as tired as Tristan felt but as he looked up from a newspaper that rested upon his lap, Siegfried’s eyes shone with that familiar energy.</p><p>“Hi, Siegfried,” Tristan said happily, “would you like a cup of tea?”</p><p>Siegfried nodded as if a cup of tea would bring to him the satisfaction that he so desired. “Yes, if you would,  my boy,” came the weary reply, accompanied with a melodramatic  sigh.  Siegfried closed his eyes and then opened them again, aiming a glare in Tristan’s  general direction. “How is your exam revision going, my  boy?” he asked.</p><p>Tristan paused on his way  into the hall and shrugged. “It’s going fine, Siegfried. I think I’ll pass. I have a good feeling about it.”</p><p>Siegfried shook his head in consideration. “We’ll see about that, won’t we, little brother,” he replied sternly, “You have   never placed too much  importance on your studies before, have you? When I was at school, I worked all the time, even on the weekends. I gave up my social life in order  to pass my exams. You don’t seem to have done that yet. I recommend a complete lack of social activity  until your exams are finished.”</p><p>Tristan stood patiently, waiting for Siegfried to finish his  rant. His older brother was tired. He was taking out his weariness on his little brother, something that he did often and so Tristan tried his best to turn his words into white noise inside his head. It was the only thing to do when Siegfried decided to lecture Tristan on which ever  subject he saw fit.</p><p>Siegfried was apparently most unwilling to go  on unheard. “Are you listening,   Tristan?” he demanded.</p><p>Tristan nodded. “Of course,” he said cheerfully, unsure of  what his brother had been saying.</p><p>“I asked you if you had thought any more about what we were discussing last night.”</p><p>Tristan thought for a moment. “What was that?” he asked. So many of  their decidedly one sided conversations  bled into each other these days, becoming one solid mass of lectures and rantings.</p><p>Siegfried sighed heavily as if Tristan’s ignorance of his meaning was a personal affront. “We were talking about your future,” he told Tristan slowly, very much as if he was clinging to the final dregs of his patience. “I asked you what you wanted to do with your career and you told  me that you thought you had a rough idea. Any more expantions on that statement? It is important, little brother.”</p><p>Tristan nodded. Now was the  time. He had been yearning to tell Siegfried ever since he had come to realise that being a vet was what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He opened his mouth and took a deep breath, hoping that his brother would take it well. “I’ve finally  decided,” he said carefully as if weighing every word before he spoke it.</p><p>“Yes?” Siegfried asked pointedly.</p><p> “I’ve decided that I want to be a vet, like you.”</p><p> Siegfried stared at his  little brother in  surprise. “A vet?” he asked, incredulous as if Tristan had made a  particularly terrible joke.</p><p>Tristan was wounded.  Siegfried sounded altogether too surprised and shocked for his liking. “Yes,” he said earnestly, “I want to be a vet.”</p><p>“And you’ve thought long and hard about this, have you?” Siegfried asked.</p><p>Tristan nodded. “Yes, of course I have. Many times. I can’t think of anything else I’d  rather be than a vet.”</p><p>Again the image of Siegfried and  himself going about their business as qualified Veterinary   surgions came into Tristan’s mind. He was following Siegfried from farm to farm, looking up into the face of his older brother and following every word he spoke, every order he gave. That was what Tristan wanted to do.  Though he would never have dared to admit it to Siegfried, Tristan worshiped his brother and the role he held as a vet.  Siegfried had the best job in the world. He had saved many an animal’s life. He had  assisted in the birth of many a calf, lamb and piglet. Tristan couldn’t think of a greater calling than that. He would never tell Siegfried how much he thought of his brother. He would hold that over him for the rest of Tristan’s days. He didn’t want that.</p><p>“Have you thought of how difficult becoming a vet truly is, my boy?” Siegfried was asking now.</p><p>Tristan nodded. “I’ve watched you,” he said, somewhat lamely, “and you’ve always told me how many exams you need to pass before you can become a vet.”</p><p>Siegfried nodded. “It’s very difficult, little brother,” he said wearily, “very difficult indeed. But if you can get there, it really is the best job in the world.” His older brother smiled. “I’m not convinced you will get there, but you might surprise me.”</p><p>Tristan Farnon tried hard not to allow his wounded pride to show on his  face. He hadn’t expected his brother to be too  supportive. Siegfried  had a habit of being both supportive and incredibly judgemental at the same time. He had both told Tristan that his wish to be a  vet was an admirable one and that he would more than likely not reach the lofty heights that he himself had managed to reach. That sounded like Siegfried.</p><p>He tried to sound as upbeat as he  possibly could. “I think I’ll manage it,”  he said brightly.</p><p> Siegfried raised his shoulders and then  dropped them again in a shrug. “I hope you do, my boy. But you’ll have to get your  head down and do some  actual  bloody work.”</p><p>“I know I will.”</p><p>Siegfried rose to his feet, stepping across the floor and placing his hand upon Tristan’s shoulder. Looking up into his brother’s face, Tristan saw a curiously kindly expression flitting across Siegfried’s features.  Tristan smiled rather tentatively. “I do hope you manage to become a vet, Tristan,” Siegfried told him quietly, using his brother’s name for the first time in what felt like a very long time indeed, “because if you do, I’ll be sure to find you a job in my practice. Yorkshire is the best place in the world, my boy. You’d love to work here, I’m sure of it.”</p><p>Tristan nodded, smiling at his older brother. “I’d like that, I think,” he said cheerfully, looking towards the door into the hallway. “Would you like that cup of tea now?”</p><p>Siegfried nodded, removing his hand from Tristan’s shoulder and smiling. “Yes. That sounds like a fine idea. You fetch us some tea and I’ll tell you everything you need to know. There’s certainly a lot that you need to be made aware of.”</p><p>Tristan  hurried into the kitchen to fix the tea. In hindsight, that  had gone marginally  better than he had expected. Siegfried seemed to have  accepted his  wish to become a vet.  He had even  offered Tristan a place at his practice should he  manage to attain the Veterinary qualification. The only down side to the whole idea was that Tristan knew how hard his slave driver brother would push him now that he  knew what Tristan wanted to do. Tristan knew that from now on, his world would be filled with work, work and even harder work. It would soon be all work and no play for Tristan Farnon. But he knew that it would be worth it. If he would obtain a Veterinary  qualification at the end of it, Tristan would work as hard as it was possible to work. He was clever enough. He  knew he could do it. The first thing he would have to  do was pass that exam. That would just be the start of it, but then again, everyone had to start somewhere.</p>
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